Thursday, September 5, 2013

Salt Lake Child Development Center Experts Discuss Cyberbullying

Salt Lake Child Development Center Experts Discuss Cyberbullying
The owners of Learning Tree Schools, a Salt Lake City child development center, discuss the dangers of Cyberbullying.
Keywords: salt lake child development center, day care center, child day care West Jordan Utah, Child daycares
Salt Lake City, Utah – Bullying comes in many forms, and Cyberbullying is particularly aggressive and dangerous.
"It can be difficult to protect children from Cyberbullying because parents often don't understand it themselves," says Amy Moyes owner of Salt Lake City child development center Learn Tree Schools. "It's defined as ‘when someone repeatedly harasses, mistreats, or makes fun of another person online or while using cell phones or other electronic devices' by the Cyberbullying Research Center. Text messages, emails, photos and social networks all come into play."
It is especially dangerous because it can occur around the clock and can happen anonymously. Parents need to take extra precautions to ensure their children are not being bullied, or acting as the bully.
Cyberbullying is unique because the child who is the bully one day may become the victim the next day. How a child is bullied is only limited by the imagination of the aggressor, and his access to technology. There may be no clear cut reasons as to why the cyber bully has chosen to act. It may stem from revenge, anger or boredom. Anyone, whether physically weak or strong, can be the bully. And a child who is bullied today could become the aggressor tomorrow.
"Children need to be responsible for what they send in a text or an email or what they post on a social network," says Moyes, who owns three day care center in the Millcreek area. "If your child wouldn't say it in person, they should care enough not to say it online. Help them understand that our online presence has a lasting effect."
According to our expert in child day care West Jordan Utah, parents should always be aware of what information their children are sharing online or via text message. Cyberbullying attacks can be sophisticated. The personal information or photos a child thinks she is sharing with someone she trusts can end up being spread to countless others in seconds. Have honest discussions with them about their online presence and allow computer use only in highly trafficked areas of the home and only during daytime hours. Parents should explain that any restrictions put in place are because they care about the child and center all talks around honesty and not penalizing the child.
Hosking who has also the experience of dealing with Murray Child daycares adds, for children who have cellphones, monitor their phone records and text messages. Many phone companies can set up service packages that send a copy of the text messages to parents so all conversations can be monitored.
Parents should understand that during one instance of Cyberbullying, their child may go back and forth from being victim to bully. Defending oneself can quickly escalate to attacking and bullying the other person. Before jumping to conclusions or enacting punishment, parents should always be sure they have the facts about the situation.
If children have become the victim of continuous harassment or have received threats, local law enforcement officials should be consulted. Remember to save all electronic communications so that law enforcement can see the extent of the bullying, and so they can attempt to track down who is behind the attacks.
While Cyberbullying is a real threat our children face, if parents and children work closely together, they can limit, and hopefully eliminate, its occurrences.